Video: Using custom actions

In the last movie I introduced you to my non-destructive layer painting concept. In this video I am going to drill down a little bit and show you exactly the mechanics of how all this works so that you can apply them to your own images in the future as well as to the project file that we are going to be working with. So I've got my image open here and this is found in the exercise files folder for Chapter 7. If I go to the Actions button here and open this up, this will open the current actions I have installed. Now, we installed this earlier and if you haven't at this point, you can go back to the Introduction chapter and check out how to install my actions as well as the brushes and the other content that we are using within Photoshop for this course.

Learn to think like a painter and render images from photographs that look like they were created with oils or acrylics, using the latest digital artist's tools. Author and artist John Derry introduces the process of interpreting a photograph into a painted work of art. He begins by explaining his system of visual vocabularies, which describe how to replace the elements of an image with expressive painterly qualities, and also shares the custom brush sets and actions he uses to achieve these results in Photoshop. The course also covers working with filters, layers, effects, and more to add further detail and texture.

Using custom actions

In the last movie I introduced you to my non-destructive layer painting concept.In this video I am going to drill down a little bit and show you exactly themechanics of how all this works so that you can apply them to your ownimages in the future as well as to the project file that we are going to be working with.So I've got my image open here and this is found in the exercise filesfolder for Chapter 7.If I go to the Actions button here and open this up, this will open the currentactions I have installed.Now, we installed this earlier and if you haven't at this point, you can goback to the Introduction chapter and check out how to install my actions aswell as the brushes and the other content that we are using within Photoshop for this course.

Default Actions is a set of actions that's always there.I typically don't use them.In fact, sometimes I remove them just to clear up the clutter, but I'llleave them in there for now, because some people do like to have different action sets.What I want to show you though is I did create this so that you could use what'scalled a button mode, and because those other actions are in there we get thispretty big list, but since I am at the bottom here I can just kind of edit thisdown a bit, so that I only see my actions.And if you remove any other actions, this is basically what you'll see here, butit just makes it a little cleaner for selecting the various actions.

The first one we are going to look at is John's Cloning Layer Action.This is really the heart of how this whole process works that I've come up with.And the first thing you're going to want to do when you're going to go throughthe process of translating a photograph into a painting is you're going towant to run this action.So let's go ahead and do that and see what happens.Let's click on it, and it gives us a little bit of information here.It's going to tell you that the action is going to flatten any existing layers.So if you're coming into the process with a layered image, you'd probably wantto save it first and either pre-flatten it or understand that when this actionruns it will flatten it.

So that's the first thing you need to know.Secondly, you're going to want to use the cloner brushes to paint on clonelayers, and you'll see the clone layers here in a moment, and if you look overin the Tool Presets right there is a Flat Cloner.So the name Cloner is the key to tell you that you want to use this kind ofbrush on one of the clone layers.The other thing that you're going to want do, and we can't see this yet, butI'll show it to you in a moment is, when we run this action and you selectany of these brushes.

You're effectively going to be using Mixer Brushes, part of what was introducedin CS5 and there is an option up here in the option bar for Sample All Layers.We want to disable that, and I'll explain that in greater detail in a moment,but I'm just providing you with some information that you're going to want toknow and it never hurts to be reminded of these things every time you run this action.So let's go ahead and hit Continue, and what it has now done is created a set ofpre-built cloning layers for you.

The way I set these up, if I close these up, you'll see these are actuallygroups and I'm starting off with three groups, which is just a good beginningset of these to have.So if we look at the Underpainting set, you can see there is actuallytwo components to it.You have the actual layer called Underpainting.This layer is the layer you're going to actually paint on.And then associated with that in that group is a Hue/Saturation adjustment layer.That's what I have found to be the most useful, and I'll get into the whys andwherefores of that a little later, but I do want to tell you that as you getcomfortable with these layers, if you want to add other adjustment layers to itthat are useful to you, you can add as many as you want.

Remember, adjustment layers are non-destructive.So they're laying on top of that layer.And then basically these are just duplicates of this same arrangement.It's just each one of these is named to give you an indication that this iswhere you're going to do very broad underpainting Strokes.This is set up to where you're most likely going to want to apply intermediatestrokes, and then finally, the Detail layer.So this is where you would apply the detail strokes.As we get into this project though, you'll see I don't stick to just usingthese three layers.

We will be probably using more cloning layers than these three and I will showyou in a moment another action that allows that to happen.But that's how these three layers work.And just to give you an idea, I'm going to go ahead and click on theUnderpainting layer and let's just go up, and since this is right here, let'sgrab the Flat Cloner.I am also going to go up to 100% so I can just see what's happening and I amjust going to start painting on this area.Now, you're seeing the underlying image, because we have a Reference layer on.

I can turn it on and off at any time.But most of the times you're going to want it on, because you want to know wheredetail and where the proper information is within the image.So I am not going to do much here, but I just want you to see how thiscloning layer works.And when you see it this way it looks a little funny, because we're seeing thephotograph transparently interposed with the strokes we're making.As soon as you turn it off however, you'll see these are just paint strokes.

You could try to paint like this without knowing where things are, but you'renot going to get a coherent composition, because you don't know where one carends and one car begins.The Reference layer is what gives me that ability to know exactly where Iwant to paint in order to accommodate the composition that's actuallyunderneath of this image.So that's the basis for how these layers work.So each of these layers allow you to use a cloning brush and there are severalin here, and the character of them is just different in terms of the shape ofthe brush throughout the set.

And then finally, you have the Reference layer, which you can enable and disableto be able to see it.In fact, I've even put a couple of shortcuts in here.Now, it works for me for it to be F14 and F15 because I'm left-handed, thereforeI can use my right hand to toggle F14 and F15 to turn this on and off.You're free through the Actions palette to assign whatever keyboard shortcutyou'd like to work with this.For me F14 and F15 work.But it just avoids having to stop over here and turn this on and off this way, and I find that very useful just in terms of workflow, that I can be working, stop.

I want to see that off, okay, I understand.Now I turn it back on, and I keep going.So those give you a really nice way to do that.The other one I want to talk about is Clear Layer.Now, Clear Layer doesn't mean it's a layer that is invisible.It means it will clear any information on that layer.However, and this is why I did this in red,there is a caveat to this.You do not want to apply Clear Layer to a cloning layer.The reason is, if you eliminate what's on a cloning layer through an actionlike doing Select All, Delete, which is exactly what the Clear Layer action itself does.

It will destroy the information that enables you to paint on that layer and youdon't want to do that.If that would happen, in the worst possible case, what you could do is eitherundo, so you can get back to the previous iteration of the layer before you haddeleted all the information out of it, or you could use the Create Cloning Layer command.As I said, the Cloning Layer action is designed to just establish a set of threecloning layers, but in reality, you're probably going to use more than that.

And in the case of where you just for some reason lost the detail, you can usethe Create Cloning Layer Group, and basically you just position it wherever.If you want to go above this one, then I say Create Cloning Layer Group and itjust added a new cloning layer group that I could now put, for example, rightabove my Detail Strokes, and now I can go to this one and I could start to drawon it, but let's go down here and turn this earlier one off.So you can see now I'm painting on another layer, where it'sdifferent information.

So I've added an additional cloning layer, and you can have as many of thesestacked up as you want.At some point your system performance may suffer, but the idea is you startinitially with the three cloning layers, which is a nice little starting number,but as you go on, if you need to add more, that's what the Cloning Layer GroupCreate command is for.Finally, I have a Create Varnish Layer, and we'll get into exactly whatthis does a little later, but this is kind of what I think of as the icing on the cake.If in the final steps of the painting you want to add physical effects like whatdoes it look like when there's a Clear Varnish layer and yet the lighting iscreating little highlights and shadows on that raised surface, as well as theeffects of canvas texture, those things can all be created with the varnishlayer in conjunction with the Varnish Brush, and once we get to a more finalstate of working with an image, I will demonstrate exactly how that works.

So these are the full set of cloning layer actions, and with these set ofactions you should be able to have a complete workflow that will enable you tocreate a non-destructive painting environment to translate your photograph intoa finished painting.

Learn by watching, listening, and doing, Exercise files are the same files the author uses in the course, so you can download them and follow along Premium memberships include access to all exercise files in the library.

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Learn by watching, listening, and doing! Exercise files are the same files the author uses in the course, so you can download them and follow along. Exercise files are available with all Premium memberships.
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